The Black Limo Fantasy

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”—Abraham Lincoln

Annie shared her dream of being an artist. Well, she was an artist of course, but she wanted to be paid to be an artist. This is a distinction I run in to with many people. They bubble with creativity, pour their souls out onto canvas and marble and paper, then sit in the middle of their wonderful work and cry. “But how do I get recognized?” “Why isn’t the world beating a path to my door? Why doesn’t this work sell?”

They remind me of the Black Limo Fantasy: When I was eight, the nation was in love with The Mickey Mouse Club—and no one more than I. I wanted to play with them, dance with them, be one of them. I hadn’t a clue how that could happen. My fantasy was that talent scouts were driving up and down the streets in a Black Limo, looking for talented children to whisk away to stardom. I kept my eyes peeled for the Black Limo with the talent scout in it. Alas. It never came to my neighborhood.

So I look at my beautiful artist friends and don’t want them to wait one more day for the Black Limo. It’s not coming for them, and it’s not coming for you. It is parked at a corner somewhere in your future, its motor running, waiting for you to arrive. And you don’t find it in one seven-league boot stride. You find it by every day making one baby step towards your dream. The purpose of art is communication with people. You have to pick up the golden phone—the one with the money in it—and talk to people who might own a piece of your dream. Find out where the Black Limo is parked by asking everyone you know, then even calling people you don’t know. Talk to gallery owners, corporate art buyers, interior decorators, architects. Enter contests, display at the local Rotary Club art fair, form a support group of other artists, and share connections. This is called “Sales and Marketing” by business people. I call them “Sending Out Ships.” They are the delivery system for your creations, whatever they may be. You have to get them out where people can buy them, otherwise they’re just hobby-crafts that you give away at Christmas.

Annie never thought she could make a sale. Not only was she afraid to make a phone call, she was reluctant to make a sale when someone called her and asked to buy one of her paintings. There were people in her life who wanted to invest money, time, and connections in her dream, and she wasn’t letting them help her. She was afraid. The fear stopped her cold. I told her that I wasn’t a therapist and I couldn’t find the source of her fear. I could only tell her to get over it, or on her deathbed she’d be regretting instead of reminiscing.

The next week, she started selling paintings. She found her Black Limo. Where is yours?

Today’s Affirmation: “I am now earning a great big income doing what makes me happy!”

For the artists among you, I want to share about my good friend, Gayle Etcheverry, artist. She is a master at sending out virtual art ships!

When I met Gayle at a networking group, she was working as a fitness instructor. I loved her energy – she just shone so brightly, I knew she was a dolphin. So I made it a point to talk with her, and she told me her burning desire was to be an artist. I could tell from the enthusiasm and joy with which she spoke of it, that she was ready to make the leap.

She came to my workshop, and started her transition. She started painting every day, found a partner, and started doing murals for people’s homes and businesses, and scenic work for the motion picture industry (her photograph is in the LA Times every year at Oscar time as she paints all those big Oscar statues gold). She started selling her paintings on EBay, she got commissions, she developed her web site, and she has a weekly BlogTV show where she talks with people while she paints!

Her first book launched a couple of years ago – it’s all about how to be a working artist:

“Thinking Outside the Frame: How Artists Make Actual Money in the Virtual World”

by Gayle Etecheverry

In these pages Gayle Etcheverry’s intelligent inspiration reveals what no other generation of artists have had the power to attain: You literally have the world at your fingertips. The great Masters of Art have nothing on you; for you can turn the actual world into an interactive gallery of your own work.

With a paint brush in one hand and your mouse in the other, you can accomplish ‘virtually’ anything. All you have to do is decide that “I AM an Artist”, follow the basic instructions laid out between the covers of this book, and “fake it” till it becomes Fact.

Whether you are a full-time artist, or a part-time dreamer, nothing is impossible when you’re – ‘Thinking Outside The Frame’

To see more of Gayle’s paintings and order the book, visit www.Gaylespaintings.com

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